Abstract

Apoptosis, a mode of cell death that culminates in early recognition (i.e. before membrane rupture) of dying cells by phagocytes, appears to have been highly conserved throughout evolution. Apoptosis can be triggered by a diverse array of both physiological and pathological stimuli all of which seem to engage the same cellular machinery that is responsible for the destruction of the cell from within. Thus, although the proximal signalling events that can result in apoptosis can vary from one stimulus to another, it is likely that these signals all converge at some point on a common set of effector molecules which we will call ‘the executioner’.